Military-Like Precision
by DolbyDigital
Summary: The Marauders come up with the perfect plan, and the Ravenclaws pay the price.


Sirius paced in front of chalk board he and James had stolen from a disused classroom, wand held in his hand like a cane as he occasionally used it to point at various stages of the plan that had been painstakingly written out in chalk. He looked at each of his friends in turn, taking this far more seriously than he'd ever done with anything else before.

"Is everyone clear on what they have to do?" he yelled, apparently trying to emulate a muggle drill sergeant.

"Yes, Sirius," Peter and Remus both responded in a sing-song voice, already having answered this question in the affirmative after the five previous times that Sirius had outlined the plan to them.

"Sir, yes, sir!" James yelled at the same time, still not having tired of hearing their plan reiterated for what felt like the millionth time to Remus and Peter. Finally, Sirius seemed satisfied that they could all recite the plan from memory.

As they couldn't all fit under James' Invisibility Cloak any longer Peter had to change into his animagus form and climb into Remus' pocket, then, the three of them pulled the Cloak over their heads. It was a tight fit, and their ankles were still slightly visible, but it would have to do.

Together, they made their way awkwardly through the deserted halls of Hogwarts, clinging tightly to each other so as not to trip or fall. Making their way down two flights of stairs proved the most challenging, but they couldn't risk removing the Cloak in case they encountered a prefect or teacher patrolling the corridors.

It took them a lot longer than usual to reach the west side of the fifth floor, but as they were doing this during the middle of the night there was very little chance that students would still be working in the common room.

They removed the Cloak, and Peter came out from his hiding place before transforming back. They climbed the spiral staircase without the Cloak, assuming that if someone were to go up or down the stairs they would be caught regardless and at least this way they couldn't get the Cloak confiscated. At the end of the staircase was a single door without a doorknob or keyhole, and only decorated with a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle.

They all stared at the door to the Ravenclaw Common Room in silence, waiting for it to acknowledge their presence. A Ravenclaw prefect had once told Remus that the way to get into the Common Room was to answer a riddle given to them by the door knocker, and sure enough…

_"Pronounced as one letter,_

_And written with three,_

_Two letters there are,_

_And two only in me._

_I'm double, I'm single,_

_I'm black, blue, and grey,_

_I'm read from both ends,_

_And the same either way._

_What am I?"_

Once it had finished its riddle, it fell silent waiting for one of the boys to answer.

"Well, it's got to be a letter of the alphabet," Sirius stated, thinking it over. Each of them had a slight frown on their faces, and James was quietly reciting the alphabet to himself.

"You?" James asked Remus.

"No, that's three different letters. It has to be a word with three letters but two have to be the same." Remus replied without looking up from the door.

"Bee?"

"Not the same spelt backwards."

"It's eye," Peter said quietly. The other three Gryffindors stared at him with varying levels of shock as the door swung open to reveal the Ravenclaw Common Room. None of them had ever been inside before and were all surprised at how open the room was. It was a wide, circular room with a midnight blue carpet, arched windows hung with blue and bronze silks, and a domed ceiling painted with stars.

They would have to be very quiet; as if someone left their dorm room they would be able to see the Marauders from the balcony above before the four trouble-makers saw them. However, the balcony could be very useful to their plans, as could the stars painted on the ceiling.

"OK, everybody; assume positions!" Sirius stage whispered. With a grin, James ran up the stairs to the balcony, closely followed by Sirius. Peter smiled slightly and went to keep watch at the door – from that position he could see people coming from any direction as well as help James and Sirius from the floor. Remus just rolled his eyes.

They each pulled a shrunken tub of muggle glitter out of the pockets of their robes, and used magic to get them back to the correct size. Remus and Peter threw their tubs up to James, who caught them with the practices ease of a Quidditch player.

Remus cast a shield charm just below the level of the ceiling and James and Sirius levitated the glitter until it covered the entire expanse of the invisible shield. Once they'd done this Peter cast a timer charm so that the shield wouldn't dissolve when Remus ended the spell. If everything went as planned the charm would release the glitter at eight the following morning.

For good measure, James and Sirius spread the rest of the glitter along the underside of the balcony railing, and got Peter to repeat the spell. Laughing, they all got under the Cloak and somehow managed to make their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room without getting caught out after curfew.

The next morning the four boys all made their way back to the Ravenclaw Tower before breakfast, and hung around outside. So far, no one had left the common room, but they could hear the muffled talking of the students on the other side of the door.

They were all checking their watches every few seconds, waiting for the glitter explosion that was sure to happen soon. The seconds ticked down to seven o'clock, and still nothing happened. They were beginning to worry when the screaming started.

None of them could suppress their laughter as they ran down the spiral staircase, and stood off to the side – still able to watch, but out of the way of the very angry Ravenclaws. The door to the common room burst open, a cloud of rainbow coloured glitter released with the displaced air.

Once the sparkling cloud had dissipated slightly, they could see into the common room past the students all attempting to leave at the same time. Glitter was still falling from the ceiling, twirling like dust motes caught in the sun as the tiny pieces of plastic fell to the floor.

Students coming out of their dorm rooms were using various objects in an attempt to shield themselves, but none had been entirely successful. The yelling had also served to wake the rest of the house, and so no one had managed to escape the glitter tornados unscathed.

The yells of the entire Ravenclaw house followed them as they ran to the Great Hall, laughing over a prank well executed.

"Potter! I'm gunna…!"

"I can't…!"

"Black, I swear to _Merlin…_!"

"Not my cat, you…!"

"How did they…‽"

"Lupin! I thought you…!"

"Oww! Get off…!"

"Why won't it…‽"

"Pettigrew, you're…!"

"Get back...!"

"…fairy massacre…!"


End file.
